The K-1 World MAX 2013 Final 16 is just a matter of days away now and there are still some gears in motion in the K-1 machine. The big news from a few days ago was that K-1 has signed a deal with Thai Airways International, who will be sponsoring the event and have made it feasible for the stream, available here on LiverKick.com as well as Epicentre.tv, to be available free of charge to all. Of course, that all comes with a catch, as countries like Canada and Belgium, which have exclusive television deals in place, will not be able to view the stream. So everyone say thank you to Thai Airways International then, they just saved you $20!

The other news is that Mike Zambidis has pulled out of the K-1 World MAX 2013 Final 16. I won't lie, this was shaky from the start here, in part due to Zambo's management being the promoters from last year's tournament in Greece and some of the fallout from that. If you have been curious as to why everything like fighters and matches were announced so late, it was in part because Zambidis changed his mind just a few weeks away from the tournament and negotiated to get into the tournament again. Then there was talk of him not wanting to fight in the tournament anymore and being unhappy with drawing Elam Ngor. His pulling out is a disappointment, but it seems like getting Zambidis on board was too much of a hassle for K-1 at this point, anyway.

Replacing Zambidis will be Ismat Aghazade from the country of Azerbaijan.